MERS Watch: Saudis Missed Cases, Deaths

Saudi Arabian health officials have missed more than 100 cases of Middle East coronavirus (MERS), including nearly 100 previously unreported deaths, since May 2013.

In a statement published today, the Saudi health ministry said a "rigorous examination of data" had revealed the country had 688 cases since the virus was first recognized in 2012, but not all were reported.

That's up markedly from the 575 the ministry had been reporting the day before.

Also, the death toll from the virus rose to 282 from 190, the ministry statement said.

But despite the new totals, the recent drop in reported cases is real, according to Tariq Madani, MD, of the ministry's MERS command and control center.

A graphical representation of the new data shows that, during some weeks in the recent MERS surge, almost as many cases were missed as were reported.

The statement came after the health minister, Adel Faqih, fired deputy minister Ziad Memish, MD, who had been an important player in the early days of the novel pathogen.

But the ministry statement left some important questions open, including:

Are all the cases now accounted for, or is there room for more to be found?

How were the cases missed and how were they identified?

During the recent surge in cases, did record-keeping systems fail under the pressure, or were cases simply misdiagnosed? If the latter, how were the diagnoses corrected?

In its statement, the Saudi ministry also said that 53 people remain under treatment and 353 have recovered.

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